Friedrich Engels may seem like an unlikely authority on Dry January. He was a veteran tippler of Pilsner beer, wine and various spirits.
Early in January his correspondence with Marx often contains complaints that he had overdone it somewhat over the Christmas period.
However he did recognise that within the working class movement there were those who drank either in moderation or not at all.
In his book on the Condition of the Working Class in England (1843/4) he noted the street sellers to be found in Manchester on a Saturday. They included purveyors of
Two cooling effervescent drinks, the former made of water, sugar and some
ginger, the latter of water, sugar and nettles. They are much liked by the workers,
especially the teetotallers.
As studies of the temperance movement in Britain have noted (see Brian Harrison, Drink and the Victorians) the drinks Engels mentions above did ferment which meant they were to some degree alcoholic, although probably weaker than beer
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